by Nancy Striniste
Spaces speak, especially to children. Just as the soaring ceiling of a cathedral inspires a sense of awe or a candlelit restaurant prompts us to lower our voices, the formality, informality, size, or openness of a space can tell us how to behave. As we create spaces for nature play, it is our responsibility to be mindful and intentional about the messages the space will transmit to children.
by Adrian Ayres Fisher
Gardeners new to the concept of carbon gardening often ask these two questions: What good soil management strategies will help maximize carbon sequestration? And, what would be a good plant palette to help accomplish this? Good questions. Read the article.
by Robert Kourik
You say you want to garden all-naturally, but the closest source of animal manure is many miles away? Then green manuring might be for you. Green manuring is the process of tilling fresh green plants into the soil to help make it drain better and allow it to hold onto more moisture, with an added bonus – the plants, as they decay, act as a readily available fertilizer. Green manuring is also pretty darn close to free fertilizer – discounting the cost of a few seeds and plenty of elbow grease. Learning how the natural cycle of decomposition works means you’ll know exactly what part of the cycle to influence, how to speed up the natural processes, and how to improve the soil in either the short or the long term.
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by Robert Schindelbeck, Aaron Ristow, Kirsten Kurtz, Lindsay Fennell, and Harold van Es
In general, soil health and soil quality are considered synonymous and can be used interchangeably, with one key distinction conceptualized by scientists and practitioners over the last decades: soil quality includes both inherent and dynamic quality.
by Keith Zaltzberg and Jim Newman
In the Fall of 2020, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is scheduled to release the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan (MA HSAP). This ambitious plan seeks to protect and build the economic and ecological resilience of the Commonwealth through exceptional soil stewardship and will consider all major land use types, including forest, wetland, turf and managed greenspace, highly impervious built landscapes, and agriculture.
Learn about upcoming programs and find out what’s happening within the organization.
We’ve scanned the media – in print and online – for items of interest to ELA’s ecologically focused audience.
Establishing a meadow is difficult; you have to combat chaotic weather forecasts and wait at least three years to see results all while managing clients’ anxiety around whether or not it’s working. Knowing which species typically have the most success in establishment and longevity is a crucial factor in creating a sustainable meadow. Here are the top ten meadow species (from seed) that will make your meadows work.
by Jennifer Jewell
Women have been sowers of seeds and tenders of seedlings for a very, very long time. For much of that time these women didn’t have the time or the means to document their history. There is no telling the whole story of women making their lives with plants or women broadening the field of plant knowledge and practice. I can’t even superficially acknowledge all the women in plants who’ve cultivated this territory before us, except to say the compost-rich soil they left behind is what germinated the seeds that grew the vibrant women I’m writing about today.
by Lori Silvia
Developed and tended as a labor of love over five years, the landscape surrounding the Academic Center at Rhode Island’s St. George’s School provided the author with new lessons day after day. From the early years as the landscape’s parent, overseeing every aspect of the of evolving landscape, the author’s role has shifted to partner as nature has taken the lead.
We’ve scanned the media – in print and online – for items of interest to ELA’s ecologically focused audience.
Learn about upcoming programs and find out what’s happening within the organization.
